To establish a claim by adverse possession, a claimant must enter the land with a claim of right inconsistent and hostile with that of another person. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 16.021(1). A “claim of right” is defined as the claimant’s intention to appropriate or claim the land as his or her own. Such claim of right may be established by a public declaration of the claim or by visible and apparent acts. The verbal assertion of a claim is not necessary.

The claimant need not understand or maintain that the claim of right he or she is relying upon is actually adverse to that of the record title holder. However, a mistake as to whom actually holds record title is not sufficient to establish adverse possession where the land is shared.

If the appropriation and possession of the land was done through permission or with the consent of the record title holder, then such will not suffice to establish adverse possession.

Adverse possession cannot be established where the claimant recognizes that another person holds title to the land or has offered to purchase the land from the title holder in such a way that would show that the claimant is admitted that the title holder is the real owner.

In certain instances (as will be discussed in Part III), visible appropriation may be taken as evidence of a claim of right when the claim of right is not otherwise expressed.

As you can see, the law of adverse possession is founded on notice. Existing rights in land should not be lost without giving the owner an opportunity to take preventative action by taking prompt action to dispute the claim.